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Dufner broke the competitive course record at Oak Hill’s East Course on Friday, and sits at 9 under par after 36 holes, two shots clear of the trio of Adam Scott, Matt Kuchar and Jim Furyk.

Jason Dufner seems only mildly chagrined after missing his putt on the 17th green during the second round of the PGA Championship on Friday. And with good reason -- he shot a 7-under 63 to break the competitive course record at Oak Hill's East Course and take the overall lead.
(JEFF HAYNES / REUTERS)

ROCHESTER, N.Y.—Johnny Miller, the legend of golf’s commentary box, once observed a common trait among sporting performers who do their best work on big stages.

Often, Miller said, they are “guys who barely have a pulse.” Perhaps this explains the success of Jason Dufner, the easiest-going of easygoing golfers. Dufner waggles his club with municipal-links nonchalance and walks fairways with a laughable lack of pace. But on Friday at the PGA Championship, he found himself in pointed pursuit of one of the game’s great records. Faced with a 15-footer for birdie on Oak Hill Country Club’s 18th green to become the first player in history to shoot a 62 in a major championship, perhaps it only fitting that Dufner’s putt was a touch, uh, slow.

He had to settle for a 7-under-par 63 and a couple of lesser honours. He now holds the competitive course record at Oak Hill’s famed East Course, supplanting the 64 jointly held by his hero Ben Hogan, Curtis Strange and Webb Simpson, the latter of whom added his name to the list about five hours prior to Dufner’s finish.

Dufner is also the 36-hole leader at the PGA Championship at 9 under par, two shots clear of the trio of Adam Scott, Matt Kuchar and Jim Furyk. He carved out that margin with consistently powerful driving and some highlight-reel heroics on a soggy par-70 track made vulnerable by hours of steady rain on Friday morning.

“It’s tough when you’re chasing history, trying to be the first to do something,” Dufner said. “I don’t think I’ve been the first to do anything in my life.”

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This clearly isn’t true. Dufner became a social-media star earlier this year when, unbeknownst to him, he became the first to engage in the act of #dufnering. The Internet term was coined back in March by fellow pro Keegan Bradley, who tweeted a photo of Dufner slouching vacantly against a wall at a charity event. The photo went viral, with copycat versions by the likes of Bubba Watson and Lindsey Vonn (a.k.a. Tiger Woods’ girlfriend) soon surfacing.

Dufner has described the essence of #dufnering as “just spacing out.” But the craze has inspired a loyalty that’s as raucous as Dufner is reserved. Witness the nine friends from the Ottawa area who descended on Oak Hill this week wearing red T-shirts identifying the group as “Dufs Dips” — a fan-club name in need of an apostrophe that references Dufner’s habit of playing with a generous dip of tobacco tucked along his gumline.

The Canadian supporters chanted “Six-ty Three! Six-ty Three!” after Dufner’s round on Friday. The golfer, in the midst of a series of TV interviews, acknowledged their noise with a nod and a smile.

“We love him because he’s just so calm,” said Ryan Paquette, a 20-year-old engineering student at Carleton University. “Sometimes you get guys like Tiger — we all like Tiger — but throwing the clubs and stuff, it’s not good for the sport. When Dufner (does well), he isn’t jumping around or fist pumping. Just a little nod. That’s what you want to see — a good ambassador for the game.”

Woods, the world No. 1 who began the day at 1 over par, didn’t appear to share good diplomatic relations with his game for much of Friday, when he hit just seven of 14 fairways and required 32 putts en route to an even-par 70 that left him 10 shots off the pace. Ditto the world No. 2, Phil Mickelson, who enters the weekend at 2 over par after Friday’s 1-over 71. World No. 3 Rory McIlroy, the defending PGA champ, was the only member of golf’s reigning triumvirate to shoot in red numbers Friday. His 69 brought him to even for the tourney.

Still, with the waterlogged greens unusually receptive and the fairways expanded by their lack of run, Mickelson called it “a great day for players who are playing well to separate themselves.” And many did. Simpson shot his 64. Three other players, among them Kuchar, Justin Rose and Henrik Stenson, shot 66.

But Dufner, 36, stole the spotlight, draining a 35-foot birdie putt on No. 4 in the wake of a sand-wedge hole-out from the fairway for eagle on No. 2, after which he eschewed exuberance for a controlled high-five with a playing partner.

If he’s nonplussed, perhaps it’s because he’s spent formative time around great athletes. As a youngster he caddied for Dan Marino, the former Miami Dolphins quarterback, in celebrity pro-ams. He has tailgated at college football games with the likes of Charles Barkley, a fellow alumni of Auburn University. He may also share some of Barkley’s notoriously unathletic dietary habits; Dufner is said to favour Taco Bell dinners, and his pear-shaped physique suggests he does so often. But he’s hardly lazy — he counts practice-tee junkie Vijay Singh as a mentor. And there are those who believe he’s fighting fit, mentally hardened by letdowns like the one he endured at the 2011 PGA Championship, where he led by five strokes with four holes to play before losing to Bradley in a playoff.

Last year, Dufner proved he can finish a job when won his first PGA Tour event at the New Orleans Classic. He won another soon after. And though he’s 0-for-2013 in tournament victories, clearly Friday’s performance suggests his quest for his first major has a pulse.

Said Dufner, laconically, in the wake of his big day: “Trying to chase history maybe can help me out this weekend trying to chase this championship.”

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